2.1. Field of the Invention
It would be desirable if depositors and investors could obtain FDIC insured, interest-bearing accounts with interest rates that can be flexibly assigned, with an unlimited number of fund transfers per month, and with insurance that may exceed $100,000. However, account offerings in the United States (“US”) are limited by statutes generally codified as Title 12 of the United States Code (“U.S.C.”) (Banks and Banking). These statutes and accompanying regulatory scheme limit investors and depositors seeking investments and deposits having a lower risk profile to a rather limited selection of choices, all of which suffer inhibiting constraints.
2.2. Background Art
More specifically, 12 CFR 329.2 states that “no bank shall, directly or indirectly, by any device whatsoever, pay interest on any demand deposit.” A “deposit” is any money placed into a checking account, savings account, Certificate of Deposit (CD), or the like. In a “demand” account, the owner can make an unlimited number of funds transfers to another account (having the same or a different owner), or to a third party, typically by bank drafts, checks, credit cards, and debit cards. In essence, an account in which a depositor has the ability to make at least six transfers will be deemed a demand account and no interest will be payable on the funds therein (unless the funds are held in a NOW account under 18 U.S.C.1832(a)). Therefore, owners of demand accounts are denied interest on their funds.
The rules governing insurance of deposits in institutions insured by the BIF and the SAIF are the same. In particular, according to 12 U.S.C. § 1821(a), the FDIC limits insurance coverage provided to the owners(s) of funds deposited in each insured institution to $100,000, and bases insurance coverage on the concept of ownership rights and capacities, that is, funds held in different ownership categories are insured separately from each other; and funds owned by the same entity but held in different accounts at the same financial entity are subsumed under the same insurance coverage.
One or more of these objects are satisfied by systems and methods structured according to a novel and creative combination of certain of financial-entity and bank regulations first noticed and assembled by the inventors. First, although accounts that require withdrawal notice are not demand accounts and therefore may earn interest, certain accounts not requiring withdrawal notice may still be deemed “savings accounts” and capable of earning interest. For example, an account that does not require withdrawal notice (but may so require at any time) is nevertheless a savings account if no more than six transfers and withdrawals are made monthly. In particular, 12 C.F.R. § 204.2(d)(1) (underlining added) states:
Therefore, the inventors have conceived and implemented arrangements whereby a single corporation, partnership, or other legal person (generally, “entity”) acts as an agent of numerous individuals or other ownership interests (for example, joint ownership, ownership in trust (such as individual retirement accounts, and other legally established savings mechanisms), and so forth) to manage the funds of each ownership interest in the aggregate MMDAs in one or more Supporting financial entities so that each ownership interest's funds earn interest while remaining FDIC insured with insurance up to $100,000 per each participating Supporting banking financial entity. Further, each Supporting financial entity, such as a bank or a saving institution, holds a single MMDA that is paired with a single corresponding DDA in the same name so that each ownership interest's use of managed funds is not limited.
To accomplish these and other objectives, this invention provides systems and methods for managing a plurality of Clients of one or more Customer financial entities by administering at one or more Supporting financial entities, such as banking or savings institutions, an FDIC-insured MMDA (money market deposit account) maintained at each participating Supporting financial entity in which are held some or all of the funds in the managed Client accounts, and for managing an Agent database recording the financial information describing the managed Client balances, Client information for each Client's account, Customer information for each Customer financial entity, financial information describing each aggregate MMDA held at a Supporting financial entity, and information for each Supporting financial entity. Where Client funds are held across more than one MMDA, the funds may be insured to more than $100,000. For example, if they are held in two (or three, or four) MMDAs (each MMDA held in a different Supporting financial entity), then insurance may be $200,000 (or $300,000, or $400,000).
In certain embodiments, where the Agent has a single MMDA-DDA pair in which all Agent-managed Client funds are held, Client liability insurance is limited to $100,000. In other embodiments, where it is preferable to provide Clients with more than $100,000 of insurance, the Agent has two or more MMDA-DDA pairs, each pair in a different Supporting financial entity, and it manages Client funds so that each Client's ownership interest at any one Supporting financial entity never exceeds $100,000. For example, when a Client's balance exceeds $90,000 (or some other operational threshold not greater than $100,000) in the aggregate MMDA at a particular Supporting financial entity, excess funds are automatically moved to a MMDA at a second Supporting financial entity. Although, Client funds may be from time-to-time be deposited at several Supporting financial entity, the accounting for these funds is preferably consolidated so that the multiple MMDAs are transparent to the investor. All Client funds exchanges and transactions may then post to a single Client account on the Agent database although the balances in this account may spread across multiple MMDAs held at multiple Supporting financial entities (represented as sub-accounts of the single Client account).
In a preferred embodiment, the functional relationship determining interest rate (for a particular Customer financial entity) is implemented largely with one or more interest rate tables. An interest rate table is known herein as a “tier set,” which has one or more rows, known as “tiers.” Each tier, or row, specifies at least a range for a selected, primary account characteristic along with the interest rate to be assigned to accounts when their selected characteristic is in the specified range. For example, where the selected characteristic is account balance, a tier set preferably includes tiers such that whatever its balance an account is assigned some interest rate (almost always, the higher the balance, the higher the assigned interest rate). One of skill in the art will appreciate that a selected functional relationship of account characteristics to interest rate may be implemented by a many tier sets. Because the relation between interest rate determination and tier sets is not unique, what is fundamental is the functional relation determining interest rate; a particular tier set is simply one expression of the fundamental functional relation specified by the Customer financial entity.
In one aspect of this embodiment, the Agent provides interest rates that vary as the amount of managed balances vary, generally the higher the balance, the higher the interest rate. The Agent database stores sets of tables referred to as “tier sets,” each table returns interest rates (or a relative interest rate) as a function of the managed balance in a Client's account. During the process of interest allocation for a Client account, the Agent retrieves the tier set for a particular Client account, and applies the correct tier to the managed account balance to return an interest rate according to which the interest income is credited to the Client's account balance. The tier set for a particular Client account may be chosen according to information and flags stored as part of the Client information on the Agent database. The tier sets, tiers, and information for selecting tier sets and tiers may be provided by the Customer financial entity.
In a concrete preferred embodiment, a Customer financial entity, such as a broker/dealer, an investment advisor, a credit union, or other financial entity, may wish to pay higher interest rates to accounts with larger balances because they are usually more profitable than accounts with smaller balances, and may also wish to run interest rate promotions from time-to-time. Accordingly, this Customer financial entity may specify a tier set with a base tier set applicable to all its Clients in the absence of further indication in the account. Typically, a base tier set leads to the same interest rate for all account balances (for example, by having a single tier). The tier set would also have a standard tier set (or more than one) leading to increasing interest rates with increasing balances. Finally, there would be one or more promotional tier sets that determines the promotional interest rates. The promotion tier set may also include time information. For example, all Client accounts opened from April 1st through June 30th earn 5%, but after June 30th all accounts in the tier group will default to a tier set that determines interest rates based on the balance in the account. Alternatively, the promotional tier set may specify that each account has an individual promotional period. For example, an account may earn a promotional rate for the first 60 days after it is opened at the Customer financial entity. On the 61st day, the account will default to a standard.
As illustrated, the Agent is generally central in these information and funds exchanges, receiving and processing transaction data and then causing necessary funds transfers.
The Agent database also preferably additionally stores records describing and representing the Customer financial entities, such as records 15 and 16. These stored records represent at least Customer financial entity identification and such other information as the Agent needs to manage the Customer financial entity's Clients, including importantly parameters provided by the Customer financial entity to guide interest allocation. Thus the records describing Customer financial entity 1, records 15, include its interest allocation parameters and instructions 20, and those for Customer financial entity 20, records 16, include its interest allocation instructions 23. Where interest is allocated according to tier sets and tiers, the interest allocation records described the Customer-financial-entity-defined balance balance-tiers and associated interest rate, both of which may be changed by the Customer financial entity from time-to-time. Although FIG. 1A illustrates all the records for the individual Customer financial entities being grouped together, actual implementation of the Agent database may organize and physically store records in any manner convenient.